Top agrifoodtech news this week was all about the ocean. Plant-based seafood-maker Konscious Foods announced new funding, as did impact investor Ocean 14 Capital. Other funding rounds from the week included coffee tech, agribusiness marketplaces, carbon projects and more.
Foodtech funding
🇨🇦 Plant-based seafood brand Konscious Foods raises $26 million seed round. Protein Industries Canada, Zynik Capital and others participated in the round. (FinSMEs)
🇮🇱 Coffee tech startup ansā lands $9 million round led by Jibe Ventures. Funding will go towards a full commercial roll-out of ansā’s hi-tech coffee micro-roaster across North America. (AgReads)
Agtech funding
🇦🇺 Goterra bags AUD $10 million ($6 million). The company will build out its food waste treatment plants that process byproduct from retailer Woolworth’s. (Australian Financial Review)
🇬🇧 Climate startup Revalue Nature secures €9.1 million ($9.9 million) Series A to build out more carbon projects. Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF) and SJF Ventures, co-led the round. (Silicon Canals)
🇮🇩 Beleaf raises $6.9 million to build an agribusiness marketplace for Indonesian farmers. Alpha JWC Ventures led the Series A round. (Tech in Asia)
🇬🇧 Aquanzo raises £1.2 million ($1.5 million) to scale up land-based farming of Artemia shrimp. The pre-seed round includes a grant from Innovate UK with Scotland’s Rural Collage (SRUC) and Agri-Epi. (The Fish Site)
M&A IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸 The LIVEKINDLY Collective (LKC) acquires Alpha Foods. The deal will expand LIVEKINDLY’s portfolio of plant-based foods. (AFN)
🇺🇸 Biome Makers & California team up. The soil health startup will offer its expertise and lab services to applicants of the CDFA‘s Healthy Soils Demonstration Program. (CropLife)
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇬🇧 Convex Group & others pour €30 million ($33 million) into impact investment firm Ocean 14 Capital. The blue economy fund is now targeting €200 million by the end of 2023. (Tech.eu)
🇺🇸 Indiana awards Purdue alumni-founded startup anu $200,000. The Indiana Manufacturing Readiness Grant will enable anu to mass manufacture its aeroponic seed pod consumables. (Purdue)
🇬🇧 Resurrect Bio gets £50,000 ($69,000) grant from the Innovate UK Transformative Technologies Funding competition. The startup won for its project bioengineering sugar beets for aphid resistance and virus control. (LinkedIn) [Disclosure: AgFunder News parent company AgFunder is an investor in Resurrect Bio.]
🇦🇺 Hiringa Energy and Sundown Pastoral Co get AUD$35.8 million ($23.6 million) from New South Wales Government. The money will go towards a “green hydrogen” facility. (AFN)
Other news
🇺🇸 Virtual restaurant brand MrBeast sues partner Virtual Dining Concepts over “inedible” burgers. The suit alleges RBI delivered low-quality, late and unbranded products to customers. (Bloomberg)
🇺🇸 U.S. Representative James P. McGovern introduces The Peas, Legumes, and Nuts Today (PLANT) Act. The bill offers a blueprint for bringing more plant-based food production to farms. (McGovern House)
🇸🇬 Next Gen Foods rebrands to TiNDLE Foods, its plant-based chicken subsidiary. The company will also expand its product lineup to include vegan sausages and plant-based milk. (Green Queen)
🇺🇸 White Castle will bring AI to over 100 drive thrus. The QSR chain is partnering with audio/speech recognition tech company SoundHound for the initiative. (Restaurant Dive)
🇮🇱 🇺🇸 Israeli startup Chunk Foods has made its US debut at Charley’s Steak House in Florida with plant-based steaks. The steaks are made from soy flour fermented with food-grade microorganisms in a proprietary solid state fermentation process. (VegNews)
🇺🇸 Kraft Heinz says it will cut its use of virgin plastics by 20% by 2030. The CPG estimates this will be more than 100 million pounds of plastic. (FoodNavigator-USA)
🇮🇳 Food delivery service Zomato reaches profitability for the first time. The company posted a consolidated quarterly profit, saying more consumers are buying food and groceries on the platform. (Deal Street Asia)
🇺🇸 Former FDA deputy commissioner Frank Yiannas joins IoT company Wiliot as strategic advisor. Yiannas will advise the company on integrating its IoT platform into food traceability strategies. (AFN)
Sponsored
International Fresh Produce Association launches year 3 of its produce accelerator